It's probably a good thing that we were interrupted because I swear Haymitch and I were about to get into a fistfight. I don't know what it is this year, I usually get along really well with Haymitch, and now it seems we're at each other's throats and it's not just our usual sarcasm.

Atala explains the rules to the tributes, and several of us older Victors recite her speech along with her. "...no fighting the other tributes, there's plenty of time to do that in the arena..." Augustus looks at us as if he's stepped into a meeting of crazy people. To be fair, he totally has.

Once Atala is done with her speech, the rest of us watch intently to see which stations our tributes go to, but more honestly, to see if they've listened to us.  We're finally allowed out of the glass waiting area above and into an area on the same level as the tributes by the locker rooms so that if tributes want to come to speak to their mentors they can. I keep a special watch out to see what tributes go where, hoping that it could give away parts of their strategy by the tributes going to whatever station they feel most comfortable with.

The girl from 5 goes to the plant identification station first, pretty typical. Cato Clove and the four other careers go to their preferred weapons stations, all eager to show off their skills and intimidate the competition. Cato swings his knife, butchering a few of the dummies by chopping off their heads and then stabs the last one in the chest.

I smile smugly. Even after a few days of not being able to train with weapons, he's still got it. Finnick must've seen this too because his eyes are wide.  I turn to him, "Not too shabby, right?"

I wish I could read his mind because he's having a serious conversation with himself right now. I nudge him and he snaps to attention. "Octavia, he's lethal."

I shrug. "It runs in the family." He gives me another look that I can't discern. "Who do you think taught him how to do that?" To be fair, I wasn't the only person who taught Cato, he was already a prodigy when I met him, but I taught him that combination. I deserve some credit, right?

"Before we meet up with the others, what were you thinking about allies?" asks Finnick.

I look over the other tributes. Katniss is making snares so whatever, Peeta is painting camouflage, the girl from 1 is doing some really bad archery, and the boy from 11 is beating up one of the trainers in hand to hand combat. "I'm hoping the boy from 11. He's huge. Even if he's no good with a weapon, his bodyweight and build is enough to make him dangerous."

Finnick nods, seemingly agreeing with what I had been saying. We go over to meet with the rest of the career mentors and strategize. Everyone else seems to concur that the boy from 11 seems to be our best bet, and of course, it's left to me to try and make that arrangement.

I signal Cato over to where I am and fill him in. "We're thinking the boy from 11 for an ally. What do you think?"

Cato nods. "He looks strong. I'd want him on my side if I can help it, if not we'll have to try and take him out early."

"Go try and see if you can get him to talk with you, invite him to train with you guys, the whole works. Make him feel like he could be apart of the group," I say motioning to where Thresh is.

Cato goes to walk away but turns back to talk to me last minute. "Hey, how's my form look? Is it okay? I feel a bit rusty. And I'm a little nervous honestly. I'm trying to act all confident but like, this is real. I'm here in the training centre, you know?"

I nod. I do know what he means. Training to get to one place in your life and then finally getting to that place is world-changing. Now for me, I realized my whole life goal was actually terrible not long after I was reaped, but that's beside the point. Having Cato suddenly realize the terrible situation he's in would not be good. Learning that the games aren't everything is hard and an earth-shattering realization, so needless to say, it's not one that would be productive in winning the games.

"You're doing great. You've got the best form I've seen. Just keep your chin up. Don't be unlikeable, but don't be afraid to show off."

Gaining some confidence from the compliments he knows are sincere, he laughs a bit. "It's ironic that you're giving me advice on being likable considering how often you fight with the other trainers at the academy, there was Enobaria, and Brutus, and Lyme, like how do you manage to piss her off—"

"Okay, okay, I get it. But you gotta get back out there."

Cato departed and made his way off to another training station, one near the boy from 11's. I make my way towards Chaff, who to my dismay, is talking with Haymitch. Seeing that I'm on my way over to talk with Chaff, Haymitch pats his friend on the back and heads off.

"Miss Jones, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm afraid I'm here to talk business," I admit. Chaff isn't much of one for business talk or politics, much preferring to indulge in the pleasures of the Capitol and alcohol. "My tribute is interesting in working with your boy. Of course, it's completely up to you what you want to do but I just wanted to put the offer out there." I know that Chaff doesn't like being told what to do, so I try and shift the power into his hands.

Chaff seems amused at my tact and by my best guesses, pretends to consider it for a moment. "I'll ask him. He may not want to though. People in my district see being a career... differently. So I wouldn't get your hopes up." He stops for a moment considering something else, "Where's your dad been? I've been missing one of my drinking buddies."

Feeling Chaff would appreciate my frankness, I cross my arms. "Honestly, that's a great question. Haven't seen him in almost a year. But if you find him, let me know."

Liking my candour, Chaff nods, but his face is a bit sad as he thinks over his next words carefully. "Your father is a bit...misguided, he isn't a bad person. He's just had a lot of bad things happen to him that messed him up pretty good."

I nod and try to hide my desire to list off all the bad things my father's done. "I'm sure he is pretty messed up."

In an attempt to find someone else to talk to, I stumble across Jo who's currently emptying the contents of her stomach. Lovely. Luckily the bathroom staff are pretty good at keeping the place shining so Jo's mess will be gone in no time. "How's it going in there?"

"What does it sound like you bitch!" barks Jo. I tell her that I'm going to come back later but she stops me. "Wait. What did you need me for?"

I shrug. "Just looking for someone to talk to."

Jo swings the stall open so she can get a good look at me. "If you came to gloat about your tribute this is the wrong time." My face scrunches, I'm not quite sure what she means by that. "He's gonna win Tavia. And my tributes are gonna die, again. Hell, your guy is probably gonna kill both my guys and none of us are even gonna bat an eye. I know I won't."

I pause for a moment and join her on the cool floor. I think I know where she's going with this. "It's because we're so used to it I guess."

Jo looks to me and whispers. "But I don't wanna be used to it." Her eyes were so big, so innocent with no glint of mischievousness, that I feel as if I'm looking at the Jo who faked her weakness before her games.

At that moment I decide that she must be drunk because there's no way that someone would speak like that in a Capitol building. I reach over her to flush the toilet so that if anyone is listening they'll hear that instead. "We don't have a choice," I whisper to her.

"But we do," she whispers back. Now I have no idea what she's talking about. We don't have a choice in any of this. We never have had a choice and never will. We have to play by the Capitol's rules; anyone who has tried to play outside of them ends up dead or worse. Victors have to make the best of their situations and use the rules to their advantage. That's the only choice we have. To play the games they make for us or perish. And I choose to play every time.

I hear the heels of Cashmere clicking against the white marble floors of the bathroom. She looks into the mirror and goes to re-apply her lipstick when she spots Jo and I on the floor of one of the stalls. She stares at us through the reflection of the mirror. Fun night for you two last night, hm?" I can't help but feel like the only reason Cashmere isn't completely destroying us with her words right now is because she knows she needs the alliance with 2 for her kids this year; Cato and Clove are vastly superior to Marvel and Glimmer. "You might want to go get your tribute by the way. He's fighting some kid from an outer district."

"What?"

~~~

Katniss POV

I decide to wait in line for the swordplay station, where one of the trainers attacks you with a foam "sword" and you have to defend yourself. I figure that it will give me the best simulation of what a hand to hand fight would be like. I desperately want to walk over to the bow station and show off because I can feel the gaze of the girl from 2 on the back of my head.

Across the training centre, I hear shouting. Over what, I'm not really sure until I hear the shouting from the District 2 boy and the District 6 boy. "Jason, where's my knife, huh?" A nearby trainer steps in to block the boy from 2, Cato I remember is his name and puts an arm between him and the boy from 6, who I guess is named Jason. I would hate to be that guy right now. "I put my knife right there." He points back to a bench wildly.

The whole centre stops to listen in on the conversation and the guards spring into action. Cato puts a hand on the other boy's chest to stop him from getting into his face. "Don't touch me," says Jason as he swats Cato's hand off of him. That will not make him any happier, I think to myself. "I didn't touch your knife!"

"Yes, you took my knife!"

"I didn't touch your knife!" insists Jason.

The guards are finally upon Cato and reach to grab a hold of him. "You took my knife, you liar!"

Jason repeats himself again, "I didn't touch your knife!"

Finally, the guards have a full grasp on Cato and begin to physically pull him away from the fight. "You liar!" shouts Cato.

Again, Jason insists he didn't touch the knife, and at this point, I'm feeling sorry for him if he didn't actually touch it.

"You little punk!" Cato turns to the guards to try and explain his side of the situation, though I don't think that'll do any good. Octavia did make it very clear that we weren't allowed to fight each other. "Get off me!"

The guards begin to pull Jason away too when they realize he's not walking away from the situation. He tries to explain that he had been just sitting there, but the guards are having none of it.

Something else catches my attention. The little girl from 11, Rue, the one who reminds me of Prim is in the climbing netting above the centre with a knife in her hand. That must be where it went, I think to myself. And I see I'm not the only one who noticed it. The boy from 11, Thresh, is also looking up at her. He's shaking his head in disapproval, but the smirk on his face tells me that he doesn't mean it. The three of us share a look, and we know we can never tell another soul about it. I try not to laugh because then surely it would get us all in trouble, if not with the guards then with Cato. I almost feel bad for Jason, the boy from 6, but then I realize it's one less person I have to worry about in the arena. And hopefully, Cato will target him first instead of me. "I'll finish you right now, kid," threatens Cato. "Or better yet I'll wait for the arena. You're the first one I get, so watch your back, huh?"

One of Cato's mentors, the girl who was giving me a death glare on the night of the parade, Octavia I think her name is, swoops in and helps the guards pull Cato away from the fight. I can tell that whatever she's saying to him, the words aren't pleasant. Everyone turns back to what they were doing before now that the scene is over. But I catch something happen out of the corner of my eye. I can see Finnick, the popular Victor from 4 staring at both of them. I heard the rumours that he was a player, so maybe the two of them have a fling? But Finnick Odair is always spotted with no less than three or four women over the course of the games, so I'm sure it won't last long. After a moment of deliberation, he walks over to the mentor and tribute pair, but doesn't even stop and walks past them. Anyone who had been watching out of the corner of their eye would have missed it. But I saw it. His mouth moved as he moved past them. He must've whispered something to them.

I want to keep watching and see what happens, but I'm called for the swordplay station. And by the time I'm finished getting hit by the trainer with a foam whacker, all three of them are gone.

Octavia POV

Cato is in so much trouble. He has explained to me that he wanted the knife so badly because it reminded him of the ones that I used to use back home at the training centre. And I get that. I really do. We all have sentimental attachments to stuff when it reminds us of someone or somewhere. And I know that he's probably just displaying his nerves as aggression. But there is no excuse for fighting another tribute out of the arena. Ever. It's a good thing that they didn't actually get into a physical altercation and have one of them get injured because the penalties for the offending party is a disqualification. Which means you die. Before the games even start.

But when I looked up at Seneca Crane watching the fight he looked more intrigued than he did angry. So that's a plus.

I drag my brother down the hallway after Finnick. We waited a few minutes to leave after him, so right now I'm only guessing where he went. Finally, we reach a stairwell and sure enough, Finnick is there waiting for us. I turn to look at my brother who I've been dragging for the past few minutes and see that he's still breathing heavily. "Cato, look buddy, I get that the dude pissed you off, but you've got to wait it out for the arena."

I nod, hoping that Cato will listen to Finnick more than me. But he doesn't. "He took my knife! I can't let him walk all over me like that! I bet he did it on purpose to try and make me look weak or something!"

Finnick steps closer to Cato and only then do I notice the height difference between the two; Finnick is at least a few inches taller. "I'm not saying to let him walk all over you. Yell at him all you want, taunt him, tease him, make fun of him, I don't care. As long as you don't touch him, you're good."

Cato stares him hard in the eyes but Finnick doesn't back down. Eventually, Cato is the one to seceede the staring contest and he looks down at his feet. "I'm sorry."

Finnick claps a hand onto his shoulders and nods. "Water under the bridge." I know Cato doesn't understand that reference because I don't either--must be a 4 thing. I see my brother nod politely, pretending he knows what Finnick just said. "Anyways, you got the Gamemaker's attention and everyone is afraid of you now, so there's some silver lining, right?" I scoff. That's not exactly what I want to hear. I want him to deter Cato from trying to start a fight and not convince him it was a great idea. "Now get back out there and show them what you're made of, from a distance."

Cato nods and takes off out the door cheerily. I walk over to Finnick and wrap my arms around him. He does the same and pulls me closer to his chest. "I never knew you were so good at giving reprimands."

He laughs and I can feel the vibrations in his chest tickle my ear. "I think it's just that I know how to handle people in your family really, really well."

I take my head off of his chest to look up at him. "You're my family too."

He doesn't miss a beat. "And I think I handle myself really, really well too."

He leans down to kiss me but the door bursting open causes both of us to jump apart out of habit. Luckily, it's just my out of breath little brother who has re-burst through the door. "I just realized I totally have no idea how to get back there." Idiot.

And that is all for this chapter. It's been a long time in the making so I hope you enjoyed it! I've been really busy with University essays so that's why it's been so long. As always thank you to my lovely Beta grayjoys . They have changed their profile over so go check them out over there now!

The next chapter will be the scores and interviews (I think) wrapped all into one. Leave any suggestions you have in the comments or DMs, and let me know if there was stuff in this chapter that you liked/disliked (i.e. more Katniss POVs, less Katniss POVs) so I can try and incorporate it in the coming chapters.

Chapterly Memes: